THE CIGALA. 



377 



the dead or dried branches, in holes which they bore by means of 

 a very curious ovipositor, which is something hke that of the saw 

 flies. They make httle shts upon the branches, and drop an q%^ 

 into each one of them. 



The metamorphoses of the Cigala are rather more advanced 

 than those of the Hemiptera, and are hke those of the dragon 

 flies. As soon as the larvae are born — and they look very much 



THE Nepidm. 



like fleas in the first instance — they descend the tree and hide 

 themselves in the earth, and suck the roots in their neighbour- 

 hood. They are furnished with spiny legs and large and strong 

 thighs, and these are capital instruments for digging. The 

 nymphs crawl out of the earth and live upon the trunks of trees, 

 or on the plants close by. After remaining perfectly quiet as 

 nymphs for a short time only, their skin cracks down the back, 

 and the perfect insect leaves its covering and takes flight. The 

 Cigala of the ash and of the elm are common in the south of 



